65 pages • 2-hour read
The Spear Cuts Through Water
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Symbols & Motifs
The Spear
Content Warning: This section of the guide includes discussion of death.
The spear is a vital symbol of the novel, appearing in the first scenes as the grandchild enters the Inverted Theater. The spear is as tall as the grandchild, with a blade that glints in the light and a long red tassel. Markings carved into the haft describe the movements of the dance performed by Keema and Jun for the Water, which provides the novel’s title. Belonging first to Commander Araya, then passed to Keema and Shan, and finally ending in the grandchild’s possession, the spear is both a literal and symbolic connection between the generations. It stretches across time, drawing the line between Araya and her descendants, including the grandchild and all the dream shades in the Inverted Theater. It exists outside of time, capable of moving from the future into the past when the grandchild gives it to Keema to complete his mission. As the grandchild reflects in the final chapter, the spear functions like a needle that stitches past to present, contributing significantly to the theme of Storytelling as a Means of Identity Formation.
However, the spear can symbolize other things as well. For instance, it also represents Araya’s love and devotion to her husband, the metalsmith killed in Joyrock. The spear was first crafted by her husband, and she keeps it as a sign of her determination to save her husband and a show of defiance against the emperor. By passing it on to her daughter, Shan, she also symbolically passes the task to her, which Shan accepts without question. The spear is therefore also connected to the theme of Love as a Source of Conflict and Healing. This is made explicit in the narrative, which states that every moment of Shan and Araya’s lives is motivated by their shared need to save the husband/father they have lost.
Dancing
Dancing is a crucial motif that permeates the novel. Though not initially apparent, the novel’s title indicates the importance of dancing, just like Araya’s spear, as the title refers to the dance that Keema and Jun perform. Many characters remark on the importance and power of dancing, including Lola, Keema, and the Moon goddess, among others. Dancing carries several meanings and functions throughout the novel. Far in the past, dancing once had magical properties. By connecting with the Rhythm of nature, humans could interact with and change their environment, using dance to summon rains, strengthen bodies, and ask for protection.
Additionally, in the culture of the Old Country, dancing is used as a vehicle for storytelling (such as that of the dancer in the Inverted Theater), a method of sharing thoughts and feelings, and a form of courtship. Lola adds that as dance became less common as a form of courtship, ritual dueling and wrestling took its place, lending significance to the fights that Keema and Jun engage in throughout the narrative. Keema makes this connection explicit when he acknowledges to himself that he would like to ask Jun to dance with him but is afraid and tackles him instead. In this way, dancing represents Keema’s desire for physical and emotional connection, indicating the growing romantic relationship between Keema and Jun.
Stories
Stories are the most significant motif of the novel, in keeping with the novel’s metafictional nature, which is intended to reveal and interrogate the structures and impacts of its own narrative. Metafiction works to constantly remind the reader of their own constructed nature in order to explore the nature and purpose of storytelling. This novel is constructed through increasing layers of story: the stories that Lola tells the grandchild, the story told through dance in the Inverted Theater, and even the stories that the grandchild shares with their brothers. In addition, other characters rise and fall throughout the novel to tell their own stories, such as the grandchild’s father and great-grandfather speaking briefly, various characters sharing their thoughts and memories in first-person interjections, and the Moon goddess herself taking over the narrative to tell her own story in Chapter 4.
Keema and Jun discover a different kind of storytelling when they gain the ability to hear each other’s thoughts, at which point the narrative explains that one’s thoughts are also a kind of story, one that each person tells themselves every day to help make sense of their own lives. Every story builds upon the last, sometimes contradicting and sometimes supporting each other, each lending further complexity as they weave together to form the novel. These stories form not only the novel but also each character’s sense of self, thus contributing to the major theme of Storytelling as a Means of Identity Formation.
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